So while I didn't do as much work as I may have wanted to over the weekend, I did manage to get some good work done on my papers, including reserving the requisite research books from the library. (Now, I await an e-mail from them letting me know when to pick them up.) I'm already going through two books on Victorian Ideas about race and ethnology rather solidly, and the books I am awaiting on are all about blogging. Today, I will spend some afternoon time in the library checking out some books on Kenneth Burke. It's a mad rush to get all of this done, but I am both optimistic and hopeful that I can pull it off.
In a way, I can't wait to write my paper about blogging. I've been reading the articles on this site "Into the Blogosphere," and I find some of the ideas a bit interesting. Of course, gathering from what little I have read of it so far, it is chock full with the academic jargon that so many people find painfully boring to read. I think that t here is such much to do with this field right now. Of course, one of the things that has been coming in the media lately is how blogging is like any other fad; therefore, it should be ignored until it goes away. While the hype surrounding it may die down a little (as more and more people get sick of hearing about blogs), while a new technology may supersede it, that idea of having your own site for personal expression on the web will not likely disappear, even though the form may change. To me, that is the crux of blogging. Therefore, it is as worthy of academic attention as anything. After all, if the English graduate students of the eighties can write long dissertations about Star Trek, why can't there also be studies about blogging?
Also, perhaps on a different tack, I guess I want to mention how I've been using Microsoft's One Note a lot lately. Mostly, I use it to write out my thoughts about my research papers, to include snippets of the stuff I am reading, and to do some of the pre-writing that I find necessary to do before I draft my actual paper. While some people might find this a little uptight or downright annoying, compared to the old way I used to do this kind of thing (write everything out on loose sheets of paper I couldn't read or find later), I find this method a little easier. Of course, it makes me think that the real cool use of this program could come from using one of the new-fangled tablet PC's. The ability to write and draw in this program is a little tantalizing, but alas, this remains a financial impossibility for the foreseeable future. Perhaps one day.